Boyle, Lt. Colonel Joseph
1867 - 1923
A legendary adventurer known as "Klondike Joe" Boyle was born in Toronto and came to Woodstock, Ontario with his family in 1872. He worked at various jobs before attaining great success as a prospector and entrepreneur in the Yukon. At the outbreak of the First World War, Boyle raised, financed and equipped a fifty-man machine gun contingent. Determined to help the war effort futher, he headed an allied mission to Russia in 1917 to help reorganize the railway system. His adventures soon took him to Romania where he became a confidant of the Royal Family. He was charged with obtaining famine relief for the Romanian people and with negotiating a peace treaty with Russia. Much honoured for his effort, Boyle died in England and was buried at St. James Anglican Church, Hampton Hill, Middlesex. Legend has it that a heavily-veiled woman in black, who appeared each year on the anniversary of his death to place flowers on his grave, was the exiled Queen of Romania. After the death of Queen Marie in 1938, the woman in black was never seen again. The grave lay neglected. The Boyle Repatriation Committee's local historians Ed Bennett and Leonard Taylor, petitioned on behalf of Joe's daughter, Flora, to have his remains brought home. Some people in England learned of his heroic deeds and wanted to keep his remains there and took the case to court. On October 20, 1982 there was a hearing in England. Eight months later, Joe's mortal remains were brought back from England aboard a Canadian Forces aircraft and laid to rest in Woodstock's Presbyterian Cemetery on Vansittart Avenue in Woodstock. A delegation from Romania comes to the gravesite on the anniversary of his death on April 14th, each year.
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